Heavy rains triggered floods in parts of northern England on Saturday, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of homes and the deployment of army personnel to shore up overwhelmed defences.

Lancashire in northwest England and Yorkshire in the northeast were the worst affected, with environment officials issuing more than 300 alerts in those areas, including 31 warnings of possible deadly floods.

The Met Office national weather service issued its most serious ‘red warning’, which calls on those in areas at risk to take action.

Around 10,000 homes in the region were without power after a substation was damaged, and many elderly and other vulnerable people were rescued from inundated homes by lifeboat.

In some areas water reached the lower windows of houses and shops, turning high streets into muddy waterways, and cars were abandoned after narrow country lanes turned into fast-flowing streams.

Underscoring the severity of the deluge, Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to visit the flood-hit region on Monday after chairing an emergency government COBRA committee meeting on Sunday.

An emergency meeting had also been held on Christmas Day.

‘My thoughts are with people whose homes have been flooded. I’ll chair a COBRA call tomorrow to ensure everything is being done to help,’ Cameron tweeted.

Officials are under pressure after similar flooding earlier this month in northwest England.

The floods in Cumbria caused damage estimated at hundreds of millions of pounds and turned many towns and villages into swamps, prompting angry accusations that the government had failed to spend enough on flood defences.

‘Certainly what we’ve seen is rainfall levels that nobody’s ever seen before,’ Floods Minister Rory Stewart told BBC Radio.

Forecasts for the area called for the rain to ease over the coming days before more downpours arrive next week.

‘Very severe weather conditions are expected,’ the Met Office said in its red warnings. ‘Take action to remain safe and protect property. Widespread flooding will lead to severe disruption to travel and danger to life.’

Flooding in the western half of England is becoming a regular winter event, and Cameron’s critics have accused the government of cutting back or delaying flood defence programs as it tries to bring down the country’s budget deficit.

The government denies the charge and says it is increasing real-terms spending on flood protection.